Late 19th Century (The Gilded Age), 1877-1898

Free enterprise system

All economic systems answer the following 3 questions – WHAT should be produced? HOW should it be produced? WHO should it go to? In the free enterprise system, people are free to produce what they can and to buy what they can afford, the interaction of decisions in the market by producers and consumers determines what is produced

Market-oriented agriculture

Growing crops and raising animals for sale in the market to make a profit

Farm issues

Issues surrounding the production of agricultural products. The main issues were the high cost of transportation (caused railroad monopolies), low prices for farm products (caused by overproduction), and mortgaged farms in order to buy seed and supplies.

Industrialization

Production of goods and products in factories by machines, occurred in the late 19th century, led ed to more goods being produced at lower prices, new sources of energy replaced human and animal power, factories and machines replaced the production of goods by hand (cottage industry), farmers left the countryside to work in cities, while population growth increased

Commercial industry

Products usually made in a factory by a machine to sell in a market, production of manufactured goods in a market economic system

Big business

Large companies that control major portions of the economy, owners of big businesses became politically powerful because of their wealth from profits

Labor union

Workers who band together to demand better working conditions, shorter hours, and higher pay, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING allows all in the union to benefit equally.

Child labor

Children under 14 years were exploited (taken advantage of) as workers, children were often forced to do dangerous jobs or work long hours for low pay

Population growth

Increase of the number of people in an area (state, region, country) as result of increases in food/resources, migration, immigration

Migration

Process of people moving to a new place to stay permanently or for a long time

Immigration

Movement of people out of one country and into another. Note: people EMIgrate out of one country and IMMIgrate into another.

Minority group

Any group of persons identified by race, ethnicity, religion, etc., and numbering less than 50 percent of total population.

Urbanization

Major move from countryside to cities in late 19th century, caused growth of cities and four major problems as a result – inadequate public services, overcrowding, social tensions, and corruption

Economic growth

The growth of the economy of nation as measured by its gross domestic product (GDP) and at the personal level by per capita GDP

Standard of living

Level of development in a country, measured by factors like the amount of personal income, levels of education, food consumption, life expectancy, availability of health care, ways natural resources are used, level of technology

Scientific discoveries

Technological improvements based on science such as the telephone, radio, airplanes, television, medicine vaccinations, etc.

Technological innovations

New ways of doing things which are based on a technology, major changes that improve how people live, examples – fire, agriculture, writing, electricity, industry, telephones, airplanes, computers, A/C

Telegraph

New form of communication over long distance, patented by Samuel Morse in 1837, messages were sent using a code (Morse Code) in a matter of seconds

Railroads

Helped westward expansion of the US by carrying large amounts of goods, cattle, and people, main means of transportation in US from 1840s to 1940s, railroads also became powerful politically.